What Killed Jane Creba
Rap, Race, and the Invention of a Gang War
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The sensational story of a girl's tragic death and the whirlwind of racial prejudices that came in its wake.
On Boxing Day 2005, fifteen-year-old Jane Creba was fatally shot on one of the busiest streets in Toronto. Police and journalists reported her death as that of an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of rival gangs.
In the months that followed Creba’s death, fifty-six men of colour were arrested in connection with the shooting. Twelve men went to preliminary hearings. One black man pleaded guilty, and another three men, also black, were convicted of her murder.
But only one bullet killed Jane.
What Killed Jane Creba is not only a story of a true crime, but of the sensationalism and prejudice that clouded the story from the outset. The author guides readers through the incident and its aftermath, revealing that the whole truth can only be known when we set aside judgements and begin to ask questions: who, what, when, where, how, why, and what next?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arvast, a cultural studies professor at Ontario's Georgian College, explores the repercussions of an infamous Boxing Day 2005 killing of a teenaged white girl, which she concludes was a tragic result of some macho posturing but not the gang war that Toronto police and media claimed. The black male suspects are usually dismissed as gangsters and thugs, but she provides refreshing, fully developed portraits of them and their world, a desperate place of poverty, harassment, drugs, foster care, violence, and jail. There are few avenues of escape, other than sports excellence and rap. Arvast's examination of the music, which can both reflect a bleak existence and project a generation's hopes, provides insight into a cultural backdrop that remains largely misunderstood or denigrated by mainstream media. All the men who were charged but not convicted and who languished in jail for four years were aspiring artists. Arvast is stylistically awkward at times, shifting from analysis and reportage to street slang that, while making a point, comes across as awkward and self-consciously hip. But her cri de coeur is an important reminder of racial double standards still driving crime coverage and the perceptions of black men in Canada.
